Reviews

Books

Sensitive story

Little Bear's Grandad, by Nigel Gray and Vanessa Cabban. Little Tiger Press £8.99

EVERY week, Little Bear goes to visit Grandad, and together they climb into a tree house which is their special place to look at the world, and the place where Grandad tells Little Bear stories of when he was young.

One week, Grandad was in his chair when Little Bear arrived and couldn't go out ... and the next week he was in hospital, so Little Bear went with his mother to visit him there. Grandad was very tired, and he asked Little Bear to tell him a story,
and during the telling fell into the deepest of deep sleeps from which, Little Bear's mother said, he wouldn't wake up.

Together they went home, climbed into the tree house and looked at all the places they could see, and hugged each
other, and Little Bear said that when he was a grandad, he wanted to be as nice a Grandad as his had been to him.

I liked the way in which the author almost took it for granted that there was both a normal and special friendship between
Little Bear and his Grandad, and the way in which he had understood how much children love to hear stories about "when you were little", and I also like the sensitivity in which he dealt with the subject of death in the family.

The illustrations in the book are excellent and enhanced the text. The parents whose children looked at the book all felt that it was pitched at the right level and that the children were able to take out of it what they needed at that time, and it was enjoyed by both pre-school and First school-aged children equally.

This is a good book to have on the shelf as a "one day" book, as well as it being a good read for all the other days.

Mary Harman is deacon at her local church

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.


		Books Sensitive story Little Bear's Grandad, by Nigel Gray and Vanessa Cabban. Little Tiger Press £8.99 EVERY week, Little Bear goes to visit Grandad, and together they climb into a tree house which is their special place to look at the world, and the place where Grandad tells Little Bear stories of when he was young. One week, Grandad was in his chair when Little Bear arrived and couldn't go out ... and the next week he was in hospital, so Little Bear went with his mother to visit him there. Grandad was very tired, and he asked Little Bear to tell him a story, and during the telling fell into the deepest of deep sleeps from which, Little Bear's mother said, he wouldn't wake up. Together they went home, climbed into the tree house and looked at all the places they could see, and hugged each other, and Little Bear said that when he was a grandad, he wanted to be as nice a Grandad as his had been to him. I liked the way in which the author almost took it for granted that there was both a normal and special friendship between Little Bear and his Grandad, and the way in which he had understood how much children love to hear stories about "when you were little", and I also like the sensitivity in which he dealt with the subject of death in the family. The illustrations in the book are excellent and enhanced the text. The parents whose children looked at the book all felt that it was pitched at the right level and that the children were able to take out of it what they needed at that time, and it was enjoyed by both pre-school and First school-aged children equally. This is a good book to have on the shelf as a "one day" book, as well as it being a good read for all the other days. Mary Harman is deacon at her local church Next Page © Christian Family Network is run by CPO, supported by Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting, Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.